Melissa Soland believes in energy, and she is energy. Her enthusiasm bubbles around her, and her interests are varied. Music is her life, particularly Ani DiFranco, but including a multitude of genres, rock and roll, hip hop, techno, “anything but pop and country”. Melissa is a sister to Katie, Zoe, and her late brother Josh; she is a mother to Taegen, and a girlfriend to Casey. She has no television or computer, but still frequents facebook and Ani DiFranco’s website, likes AMC’s Breaking Bad, and the movie Natural Born Killers. She enjoys Shakespeare, and is familiar with Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Taming of the Shrew, and Othello. Melissa’s goal is to help people with a counseling degree from Eastern, after she finishes her AA degree here. Free-thinking Melissa isn’t a member of a political party, although she does lean towards the left.